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Video:Windows Movie Maker Capture

Take control of your raw footage. Learn how to capture video in Windows Movie Maker, and take the first step to editing the video into a completed project.See Transcript

Transcript:Windows Movie Maker Capture

Hi. I'm Isaac Brody for About.com Computing.

Today I'll teach you how to capture video in Windows Movie Maker.

Movie Maker-Camera Connection

I'll need my Mini-DV video camera which has a firewire connection here. There are multiple types of firewire connections. Cameras require a 4 pin firewire cable on one end, while computers can have a 4 or a 6 pin connection.

My laptop has a 6 pin connection. I'll connect the firewire cable to my laptop and then to my camera. Make sure that you remember to turn on your camera and set it to its VCR mode for playback.

Capturing from your Camera

Either open up your Movie Maker project file, or start a new one from scratch. Go to File, Capture Video. If everything is plugged in properly, you should see your camera listed. Make sure it's highlighted, and click, Next.

Saving Captured Footage

Enter a name for the video we are about to capture and click Browse to set where the captured footage will be saved. I'll choose my project directory, under C Drive, Movie Maker Projects, and Movie 1.

I created these folders on my own in my C Drive, but if you have an external drive with lots of space, use that instead. Video takes up a lot of hard drive space. Now click OK and click Next.

Capture Quality

Now we have to choose the Capture Quality. I'll choose Digital Device format, DVAVI, to capture at full quality. And click Next.

Capture Method

Movie Maker Preview

You can show preview during capture, although some computers can't capture and preview at the same time. If you have problems during capture, de-select this option. Click Next. We have playback controls to capture. We can play, pause, stop rewind and fast forward.

Capture Start and Stop

I'll hit Play to start my tape and hit the Start Capture button. When I want to stop I'll hit the Stop Capture button. I can capture one, or multiple clips.

Organize Captured Clips

If you capture multiple clips without closing the capture window and hit Finish, an import window pops up. After a few moments, all the clips you captured will be made into one longer clip. If you capture one clip and hit finish. Then go back and do it for a second clip, each of the captured clips will be saved in a separate video. Let me show you.

Click on the Collections Window. Here is our first clip, here is our second clip. If you find this confusing you can always capture the entire tape and cut it up later.

Our captured video now shows up in our collection and is ready to be edited.

Thanks for watching. For more information, please visit us online at Computing.About.com.

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